As soon as Louis walked into Zayn's apartment he did a double take seeing his mother sitting in the living room with Zayn and a cup of tea in her hands. He gave them a nervous smile then walked up to them hugging his mum and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"How are you feeling, love?" Jay asked pulling him down to sit next to her.

"Great...I resigned yesterday." Louis fiddled with his fingers then raised his eyebrow when his mum gave him a knowing look.

"Okay...that was for the best. Now, what's this about a marriage between a random man and you?" Jay raised an eyebrow rolling her eyes when Louis glared at Zayn.

"You told her? I- traitor!" Louis gasped then looked at Jay with nervous eyes, "I was drunk mum, I didn't know any better...I swear."

"I'm not mad sweetheart, Zayn told me you're gonna annul it." Jay smiled while Louis looked away, his face heating up a bit.

"You are, right?" Zayn asked.

"About that...I want to talk to you about that."

"What's going on Louis?" Jay started getting worried.

"I- I'm not gonna annul it, we're gonna stay married." Louis said.

"Have you lost your mind! He's a complete stranger Louis!" Zayn hollered standing up and towering over Louis and Jay.

"I- let me explain." Louis cried

"Then do!" Zayn shouted.

Louis took a deep breath and began explaining, he told them everything that had happened leaving out the part where they had kissed and by the time he was done they looked a bit more understanding. When he finished talking he took a deep breath resting his head on his mother's shoulder sighing in content when she started running her fingers through his hair.

"So...you're going to help him then?" Zayn asked.

"I want to, we'll only stay married for a year then file for a divorce." Louis said hoping for him to go along with it.

"You have such a big heart, sweetheart. But please be careful." Jay gave him a stern look then hugged him while Louis only had eyes for Zayn.

"I'm worried this is not gonna end up well but I'll support you, you know I always do." Zayn sighed.

"When are you meeting his family? Oh! And don't worry about the girls, we'll just tell them you and that bastard broke up a long time ago and you found and...fell in love with this Harry, it's good that they haven't seen him in over a year. And I want to meet him." Jay told him wanting to know what Harry was like.

"I don't know, but...I'm moving in with him later today. To make it more believable and all that." Louis informed them.

"Great! I'll help you pack and move your stuff there, the sooner I meet him the better." Jay clapped her hands together and Louis nervously gulped not having the heart to tell her he didn't want her to go.

"Y- Yeah, thanks mum." Louis tried to smile but came out looking more like a grimace.

She helped him pack then drove to Harry's apartment with her and Zayn in tow and when they were outside the building, his mother looked around until she smiled in approval of the area her son will be moving into and living for a year. They helped him with his bags and when the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor out of the six floors, they followed him all the way to Harry's door where he knocked three times before the door opened.

Harry was smiling being a charming son of a bitch until he noticed Zayn and the woman standing behind him and Louis could clearly see how his charm turned a thousand times more lethal seeing the way his mother was smiling at him.

"Louis! Come in, come in. Zayn, nice to see you again, and who might this lovely lady be?" Harry smiled showing his dimple that Louis just wanted to poke, maybe punch it a little when he shook hands with his mother and even kissed it making Jay blush a little.

"What a charming young man. I'm Jay, Louis' mother. Nice to meet you." Jay smiled giving Louis a look that clearly said she approved making Louis want to tear his hair out wanting to tell her again why he was there in the first place.

"Very nice to meet you too, ma'am." Harry smiled.

"Call me Jay, dear. I'm going to be your mother in law after all, Louis explained to us what's going on and don't worry about us. We'll try and help as much as we can." Jay winked causing Harry to almost choke on his own spit looking back at her with wide eyes.

"Uhh, I hope you don't think I'm taking advantage of your son. He was kind enough to help me and I just don't want to disappoint my parents and my sister, I'll forever be grateful that he's willing to do this without getting anything in return." Harry spoke surprising Louis because he had never seen him being that sincere.

"Of course not dear, but...I expect you to treat my son well and for the year that he's going to be your husband I don't want to hear him complaining." Jay gave him a warning look missing the way Louis rubbed his hands on his face in embarrassment of what his mum had just said.

"You'll never hear a single one." Harry warmly smiled at her feeling relieved when Jay nodded.

"Well, I better get going. I have four daughters waiting back at home and I don't want to leave them alone longer than necessary." Jay surprised Harry when she hugged him then let go turning around to look at Louis, "It was nice seeing you sweetheart, and remember that I'm just a call away." Jay hugged him.

"I'm gonna go drop them off...I'll be right back." Louis awkwardly said to Harry then left when he nodded.

He came back thirty minutes later to find Harry sitting in front of the tv watching Skins with a beer in his hand then looked around with a disgusted expression seeing Harry's dirty socks on top of the coffee table and his own luggage still by the recliner where they had placed it earlier.

"Where's the guest room? If you're not gonna help me with my bags then at least tell me where it is." Louis put his hands on his hips waiting for Harry to get up.

"Yeah...about that, I think we should share a bed to make it more realistic plus there is no guest room." Harry shrugged taking a long drink from his beer.

"Then its settled, you're sleeping on the couch. You look comfortable so there, problem fixed." Louis dusted his hands off smirking at Harry.

"That's my bed. If someone's gonna sleep on the couch then that's you, babe." Harry looked at him through hooded eyes.

"I'm your husband! You're supposed to do as I say, I'm helping you convince your family you've changed and you're now a goody two shoes." Louis crossed his arms over his chest tapping his left foot on the hardwood floor narrowing his eyes at him.

"I'm not sleeping on the couch. You're gonna have to share my bed with me or sleep on the couch, your choice." Harry gave him a boring look then went back to paying attention to the tv.

"I'm not doing any of those things." Louis insisted.

"Then sleep on the floor, problem solved." Harry shrugged managing to spill a few drops of beer on the brown couch making Louis cringe; he hated stains.

"You're an asshole! At least help me with my bags!" Louis shouted grabbing the smallest bag making his way over to one of the doors pleased to know that he at least had gotten it right as to where the bedroom was located.

That good feeling quickly faded away and he watched with a horrified expression just how messy the room was. Sure, it was beautiful and well decorated but it couldn't compete with the messy and unmade bed and the dirty socks and briefs scattered all over the room. He wanted to walk out of there but was pushed further inside when Harry walked in with his two heavy suitcases, one in each hand dumping them in the middle of the room.

"What the hell is this!?" Louis looked back and forth between the bed and Harry waiting for him to at least change the bedsheets and possibly the duvet as well as disinfect the whole thing.

"My room." Harry rolled his eyes.

"This is disgusting, this is probably where you fuck all your whores! I can't live like this, this is inhumane and a violation of my rights." Louis frantically said.

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot you only sleep on Hypnos beds and Egyptian cotton sheets like a princess." Harry glared then began removing the duvet and the bedsheets to wash them not even bothering to pick up the undergarments flying out of it while Louis glared back hurt by his comment.

"There. Happy?" Harry said coming back from the laundry room with clean ones then got to work fixing the bed while Louis stood in the middle of the room doing nothing.

"I- I'm sorry if what I said offended you, I didn't mean it." Louis avoided Harry's gaze and instead chose to play with his fingers.

"Doesn't matter...and just so you know and you can actually sleep comfortably tonight, I don't bring them here. And the bedsheets needed to be washed anyway." Harry said not bothering to look at him.

"Still..." Louis continued.

"Louis..." Harry sighed as he rubbed his hands on his face then turned to look at him, "It's okay and I'm not offended. I'm gonna clear out half of my closet so you can put your stuff there."

Louis slowly nodded then after Harry was done doing the bed he unpacked his stuff and put it away as best as he could in the space Harry had left for him and after he was done he grabbed his stuff to put it in the bathroom and took a shower smiling a little yet feeling like an asshole when he figured out Harry had cleaned it when he was busy putting his clothes away.

By the time he was done showering it was dinner time realizing that he was going to have to eat take out until he walked out and the delicious smell of Fettuccine Carbonara hit him full force making his mouth water. Without thinking, he made his way to the surprisingly clean and well organized kitchen where Harry was standing in front of the stove wearing nothing but basketball shorts serving the food in two plates unaware that Louis was watching him.

"I didn't know you could cook?" Louis asked startling Harry who almost dropped the spoon he was holding.

"Uh...yeah, I've always liked to cook. When I was little I was obsessed with watching those cooking shows." Harry looked down as he smiled making Louis tilt his head to the side wondering when had Harry gotten so handsome and was nice to look at; just sit there and admire.

"I'm a decent cook." Louis said taking a seat next to Harry on one of the stools instead of the dinner table, "You don't use the dinner table?" Louis asked trying not to offend him again.

"Nah, I rather eat here. And about that, you should cook something one of these days." Harry said taking a bite out of his food.

"Maybe." Was all Louis said.

Louis didn't expect the explosion of flavors when he took his first bite moaning at the taste then continued eating completely ignoring Harry. It wasn't until he stopped to drink water from the glass Harry had placed in front of him that he noticed him watching him with a tiny smile on his lips.

"What?" Louis asked.

"Nothing. Do you like it?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, its amazing...I've had this before but yours is just- wow." Louis babbled blushing a bit under Harry's gaze.

"I'm glad you like it."

They continued eating in silence until they were done then Louis sent Harry to watch some tv while he cleaned the kitchen insisting that Harry had cooked after he kept insisting on cleaning it. When he was done he expected Harry to be sitting on the couch watching tv but instead found him in his- now theirs- tiny laundry room taking the duvet out of the dryer. By the time Harry was finished cleaning up his room it was bedtime for Louis and slowly made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth heading to bed minutes later.

"Harr- oh my god why are you naked!" Louis exclaimed as he covered his eyes trying not to see him yet opened them just a tiny bit to see Harry's massive cock and for a moment reconsidered their agreement of no sex until he snapped out of it.

"Nothing you haven't seen before, and I sleep naked. And what's that smell, too vanilly." Harry shrugged putting his sweatpants at the foot of the bed.

"No! You listen to me, there will be no nakedness in this house as long as I live here so put your sweatpants back on." Louis finally opened his eyes trying to avoid looking at Harry then grabbed the gray material throwing them at Harry. "And that's my candle, I like how it smells and it calms me down.

"You have got to be kidding me, Louis I don't sleep comfortable with clothes plus you've seen me naked...heck, I even had my dick up your ass." Harry rolled his eyes getting ready to go to bed.

"Jesus Harry, can't you be any more crude. That was then and we were drunk, just...please." Louis sighed.

"Fine." Harry finally agreed putting them back on then got under the covers waiting until Louis was in the bed to turn off the light. "I like that scent..."

"Thank you. Your bed is comfortable...really soft. Goodnight." Louis mumbled half asleep smiling a little when he heard Harry mumbling a quiet goodnight.

He had made sure to be on his side of the bed with his back to Harry far away from him then glanced at him to see he was just like him except he was curled up into a ball then fixed the fluffy pillow falling asleep in minutes. Hours later he woke up feeling overly hot and sweating buckets, he tried to kick the covers away feeling a warm body pressed up against his from behind. Harry had an arm wrapped around his middle and his face buried on the back of his neck where he could feel the warm puffs of air getting desperate when the longer he stayed still, the more hot he got afraid of suffering a heat stroke right there.

"Harry?" Louis mumbled trying to push him away but Harry only snuggled up closer to him.

He tried to push him away one more time feeling weird since he had never cuddled before except with his family and Collin was never one to cuddle and in fact hated the action. After struggling for a few minutes he finally set his arms free from underneath the duvet and proceeded to try and push Harry away from him stopping when he let out a whimper.

He turned his head around to see his face way too close to his own, his eyebrows were furrowed and his eyelids were scrunched up almost as if he was having a bad dream. He continued like that until Louis put his arms back where they had been then let Harry snuggle closer to him relaxing when Harry did. He sighed then closed his eyes burrowing deeper into Harry's side for no reason and minutes later fell asleep.

The following morning Louis' eyes snapped open when he felt something poking his lower back pretending he was asleep when Harry woke up and got up heading straight to the bathroom. When he heard him locking the door he got up and walked to the kitchen to try and find the tea smiling when he found his favorite.

"Mum wants to meet you tomorrow, said something about a barbecue." Harry walked into the kitchen a few minutes later with his phone in hand making Louis jump a bit.

"So soon? Can't we wait like a week? What if she doesn't like me?" Louis nervously asked.

"Please! I'm sure she'll love you more than she loves me and my sister together, plus she's being texting me this whole time asking if they can meet you tomorrow." Harry shrugged going for a banana stopping when he saw Louis fiddling with his fingers, "You don't have to if you don't want to, I won't make you meet her this soon."

"No, tell her we'll be there in time for this...barbecue." Louis gave him a small smile then left to take a shower leaving Harry alone making breakfast.

~*~

The day quickly passed by and the following Sunday morning Louis found himself standing in front of the mirror fixing his white button up trying to keep his nerves down. He felt even more nervous now than he had felt when he met Collin's snotty mother and that was saying something since the woman made him want to hide under a rock and never come out again. While Harry was brushing his teeth after showering he just hoped he wasn't too underdressed just hoping for his family to like him or having to pretend to want to be married to Harry would be a waste of time.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked walking into the room wearing his usual skinny jeans, a simple shirt and those hideous boots Louis had noticed he loved so much.

"Yeah. How do I look? I gotta make a good impression after all." Louis nervously said trying not to panic when Harry only stared at him.

"You're wearing that to the barbecue?" He finally asked letting his eyes roam aimlessly throughout Louis' body.

"Yeah. What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Louis narrowed his eyes trying to keep his temper down.

"No offense but you're a little bit overdressed, you don't need to dress all fancy to meet my parents. A simple shirt and jeans will do." Harry said walking to their closet to find something for him to wear.

He came back with a light blue shirt and black jeans and after giving them to Louis he left the room to let him change. They left the apartment a few minutes later as Harry drove them to his parents house in his car while Louis was too nervous to even pay attention to where they were going until he stopped in front of a beautiful two story gated house with a big front garden.

"This is where your parents live?" Louis gaped at the house using his left hand to unbuckle himself.

"Yup, the one and only. The house where I grew up and glad I moved out of." Harry said.

"What the hell Harry. No way what you told me to wear will do, look at it!" Louis exclaimed pointing at the house refusing to get out of the car when Harry opened the door.

"Louis its fine. My parents won't care and it doesn't matter what you wear around my sister." Harry motioned for Louis to get out smiling when he did then led him to the front door by the hand.

"Are you sure they're gonna like me? Harry, what if they hate me?" Louis tried to keep his nerves down.

"They're gonna love you. Oh, something you need to know...my sister can't-"

"Harry, sweetheart you made it!"

Harry was interrupted by his own mother feeling Louis' hold on his hand tightening then looked ahead where his mother was standing at the front door with Melissa in her arms. He tried not to roll his eyes knowing she had probably been standing there the whole time while Melissa squirmed in her arms wanting to go to him.

"Mum, this is Louis. Louis, this is my mum Anne." Harry introduced them starting to sweat when Anne looked him up and down.

"Hello, it's so nice to finally meet you. Harry talks about you all the time." Louis smiled extending his hand to shake hers.

"Oh sweetheart, come here." Anne pulled him into a hug surprising him while Harry smiled taking the squirming little girl from his mum's arms, "It's so nice to finally meet the man my son is so in love with."

"Mum you're gonna suffocate him before the others have a chance to meet him." Harry gently pulled Louis away from her.

"Of course! Everybody's so excited to finally meet you, come in." Anne smiled taking Melissa from Harry.

"And who might this cutie be?" Louis asked noticing the blonde blue eyed little girl peering up at him.

"This is my youngest granddaughter, her name's Melissa and she's two. Her mum is my oldest daughter, Gemma." Anne smiled.

"Hi, you're a cutie." Louis smiled at her reaching out to tickle her tummy making her giggle, hide her face on the crook of her grandmother's neck then look back at Louis giggling again when Louis tickled her again.

"She likes you. Wait till you meet her older brothers Chase and Mason, they're four and they're identical twins." Harry said putting a hand on Louis' lower back feeling as if it was a normal thing to do.

Anne led them to the backyard where Louis could see an older man and a younger one in front of the grill as well as a young woman sitting at the table. Louis immediately figured out she must be Harry's sister due to the resemblance and couldn't help but feel nervous once again the closer he got to them. Louis once again grabbed Harry's hand when Anne opened the sliding glass door where his mouth watered at the smell of food then walked up to the two men noticing the younger one heading to where Harry's sister was sitting.

"Des, this is Louis, Harry's husband. Louis, this is my husband and Harry's father, Des." Anne brightly smiled putting Melissa down just as Des opened his mouth.

"Nice to finally meet you Louis, since Harold never bothered to properly introduce us much less invite us to the wedding." Des smiled shaking hands with Louis while Harry rolled his eyes glad that his father didn't notice it.

"A pleasure to meet you sir. I guess Harry just wanted me all to himself." Louis chuckled sensing how uncomfortable Harry was at the moment.

"Call me Des." He smiled making Harry sag in relief knowing his father liked Louis since he almost never let anybody call him by his first name.

"Let me introduce you to my sister Gemma and his husband Christian." Harry grabbed Louis by the hand pulling him towards the couple sitting together.

"Chris, Gemma, I want you to meet my husband Louis." Harry said getting Gemma's attention who immediately smiled trying to get up with Christian's help.

"Nice to meet you, I've been wanting to meet you ever since Harry told us about you." Gemma smiled.

"I'm Christian, Gemma's husband." Christian smiled shaking hands with Louis.

"Louis, nice to meet both of you." Louis shook hands with him then extended his arm out to shake Gemma's hands but was left waiting when Gemma never shook it then slowly lowered it seeing her husband nudging her shoulder.

"Sorry, I can't really see anything. Didn't mean to be rude." Gemma chuckled as she shakily extended her arm for Louis to shake, her smile widening when Louis shook it.

"Don't worry about it." Louis said never taking his eyes off of her feeling embarrassed for not noticing her cane by the chair now knowing the real reason why she was wearing sunglasses.

"Uncle Harry!"

A chorus of loud cheery voices shouted then Louis saw two identical little boys with dark brown hair and bright green eyes rushing over to them hugging Harry's legs while Melissa pulled on Louis' jeans then held her arms up wanting him to pick her up which he did with gusto.

"There, there. How have my troublemakers been doing?" Harry groaned as he picked them up.

"We got a new football, daddy got it for us!" One of them who was wearing a black shirt exclaimed.

"Would you play with us?" The other one with a red shirt asked pouting his tiny lips and all Louis could do was find all three of them adorable.

"I would love to but first let me introduce you to Louis. He's my husband, say hi." Harry smiled as the two boys looked him up and down then smiled at him.

"Louis, the one in red is Mason and the one in black is Chase...and you already met Melissa, they're four and two." Harry introduced them as he kissed their cheeks making them gag then giggle.

"Hi!' Both of them said as they waved at him.

"You're so pretty, like my mummy and Nana." Mason giggled while Chase furiously nodded.

"Oh...thank you, you and your brother are handsome little men." Louis smiled loving how their faces brightened at the comment trying to ignore the way Harry smiled at him as if he had just made his day.

"Mummy, I'm a man now!" Chase screamed reaching for Gemma smiling when she grabbed him as soon as she felt his tiny arms around her neck.

"You are! My little man." Gemma slowly leaned in and Louis felt his heart warming up when Chase helped her kiss him on the forehead where she wanted then kissed the tip of her nose.

"Mummy, I'm your little man too." Mason pouted wanting Gemma to hold him smiling when their father helped him into her arms.

"And who might you be? The little princess?" Louis smiled at the little girl in his arms as he fixed her hair making her smile.

"P'inces." Melissa giggled going to Harry as soon as he held his arms out for her.

"Yeah, you're the little princess." Harry kissed her cheek making her laugh when he started blowing raspberries on it.

Louis was too distracted watching Harry holding the small child in his arms knowing he was going to be a great father but sadly not to his own children because in a year all of their pretend would be over and what kind of person would he be by having children with someone he wasn't in love with.

He turned to look at Harry's mother when she made her way over to them with a plate of food setting it down on the table where Gemma was now sitting with her husband, the twins sitting next to them waiting for their food.

"Papa, I don't want bread." Chase quickly said as soon as Des grabbed a hamburger bread to prepare him his food.

"Chase, baby you need to eat the bread too." Gemma quickly said turning her head to where she had heard his voice once again surprising Louis.

"Boys! Come sit down, food's ready!" Anne waved them over smiling at their hands laced together and Harry holding Melissa making it look like they already had their own children.

"Thank you." Louis said taking a seat in front of Gemma and next to Harry who put Melissa down on her own chair.

"So boys." Anne clapped her hands together as soon as everyone was ready to eat, "So where did you boys meet? And Harry, why did you never introduce him to us?"

"Uhh, I just- I never had a chance to be honest." Harry said looking straight at his dad, "Didn't want him to get scared and run away."

"Oh and why would I do that, babe." Louis chuckled resting his head on his shoulder sensing the tension between Harry and Des knowing the rest of the adults could sense it too.

"Don't know, I was just too scared." Harry shrugged kissing the top of Louis' head smiling when he heard his mother cooing at them.

"Enough to not even tell us you were going to get married...and in Vegas, not here with your family and in a traditional wedding like your mother and I dreamed of." Des said in a cold hard tone.

"That you dreamed of, not Louis and I." Harry rolled his eyes trying to keep his temper down feeling Louis' hand on his right bicep trying to calm him down.

"And you think that's what Louis wanted?" Des scoffed, "But of course, things have to always be done your way...and look where it got us."

"Dad!" Gemma exclaimed while Anne hid her face with her hands and Louis watched with wide eyes.

"We're gonna go...Louis lets go." Harry suddenly got up leaving a wide eyed Louis looking between him and his family not knowing what to do.

"Love, I think-" Louis started but was interrupted by Harry.

"Mum, Gemma, I'll call you both later." Harry insisted staring daggers at his father.

"Harry please don't leave, you just got here and I haven't talked to you in a while now." Gemma begged trying to get up, "I promise dad will behave, right dad?"

"Right." Des confirmed.

"Fine, but I'm doing this for you and mum." Harry sighed earning a smile from Gemma who sat down again and continued eating.

"So where did you boys meet?" Gemma asked facing towards where Harry and Louis were sitting.

"The park." Louis said.

"The bar." Harry shrugged.

They both looked at each other realizing they had never talked about it and now both of them had fucked up.

"I- I was jogging...in the park, yeah, jogging in the park and Harry here was coming from the bar across the street and I literally ran into him." Louis smiled grabbing Harry's hands in his.

"Oh, well that's...unusual." Anne said.

"Yes, I of course managed to catch him." Harry continued telling lies like nobody's business.

"And it was love at first sight, we fell so in love and I swear he doesn't look like the type but he's the most romantic person ever." Louis dreamily sighed noticing the way even Des smiled a little.

"After a while of dating I cooked dinner for him and after eating I got down on my knee and asked him to marry me." Harry kissed Louis' temple.

"So where's the ring?" Anne asked making Harry choke on his own spit.

"Son, please tell me you at least got him a ring." Des said looking at Harry expectantly

"Of course I did dad." Harry gave him a nervous smile as he discreetly pinched Louis' thigh under the table so he could do something.

"For some reason my fingers swelled up and I can't really wear it right now, it's too tight." Louis sadly smiled sighing in relief when they nodded but what Anne said had him coughing and choking on his spit probably for the rest of his life.

"Louis, Louis dear...are you pregnant?" Anne asked making Gemma squeal in happiness and Christian and Des congratulate Harry.

"Mum! He's- he's not pregnant. We're not planning on having any kids for at least...two years." Harry killed the happy mood.

"It can wait." Des agreed smiling at Harry and for the first time Harry felt like his father was the old one again even just for a few seconds.

"Uncle Harry, are you gonna play football with daddy, papa, me and Chase. Uncle Louis can play too." Mason asked wide eyed.

"Of course I am, that's all I came here for Mase." Harry smiled before taking a bite from his hamburger.

"Louis, do you have any siblings?" Gemma asked.

"I have four younger sisters, the youngest two are twins." Louis answered already somehow comfortable around them.

"We should have a big family dinner and invite them, we would love to meet them. I want to meet the lovely woman who raised such a great young man." Anne said smiling when Harry wrapped an arm over Louis' shoulders pulling him closer to his side.

"I'm sure she'll love to come over one of these days." Louis smiled.

"If you don't mind me asking Louis, what do you do for a living?" Des asked.

"I used to work as a PA for Axel Law Firm but I quit due that for some dumb reason you can't get married. I don't know where that came from but to be with Harry I would do anything." Louis lied through his teeth feeling guilty seeing their happy faces.

"That is weird." Anne furrowed her brow, "Are you two job hunting now?"

"We are, I just hope we find something soon." Harry sighed trying not to look at his father but had to when he called his name.

"The job is yours if you want it back." Des offered taking a sip from his glass filled with apple juice.

"Thank you dad but I rather look for something else and do it on my own with no help." Harry refused the offer feeling Louis' hand on his underneath the table.

"Oh c'mon son, I know I was a bit harsh and I said things I shouldn't have but this business is yours too and someday when I no longer can it will be you and your sister who will inherit it." Des insisted.

"I don't know dad..." Harry sighed.

"I need someone for the superintendent position since Tom quit and I know you're good at that; in fact, Louis could work there too that way everything stays within the family." Des' smile widened looking at them expecting a yes.

"That would be perfect!" Anne exclaimed clearly excited that her son went from a simple laborer to being sort of the boss.

"What do you think?" Harry turned to ask Louis surprising him that he was even asking.

"Umm...its up to you but I think it's perfect. We do need to get jobs and fast." Louis said waiting for Harry to say something.

"Okay...when do we start?" Harry finally agreed getting a pat on the back from his father to show him his approval, something he hadn't done in years.

It made Harry want to cry.

"This Monday is perfect." Des grinned.

They continued talking about random stuff until Mason and Chase got impatient and dragged the adults to play football. Louis had stayed behind when Anne and Gemma started a conversation with him while he watched Harry. He smiled when Harry picked one of the twins up and ran around in circles with the other twin chasing him as all three of them laughed.

"Harry's great with them, loves them to death." Anne commented while Gemma nodded.

"He's like a little kid too." Louis chuckled.

"You should see him when he takes them to the park, I swear I end up with four kids instead of three." Gemma laughed.

Louis observed her wondering what had happened for her to end up blind but bit his tongue before he could say anything not wanting to offend her and her family. He had just met them and wanted them to like him.

"Even if he sometimes acts like a jerk Harry is a lovely and sweet man." Gemma suddenly said as soon as Anne had left to go get them water bottles.

"He is." Louis agreed not knowing what else to say.

"I'm glad he found you, you know. He's been alone for so long, never allowed himself to be happy and call someone his one and only." Gemma continued catching Louis' interest.

"Really?" Louis asked feeling many emotions running through his body. This was wrong, what they were doing was wrong.

"Yeah! Ever since my accident he changed, built walls around him so tall no one could tear them down until you did. You're exactly what he needs." Gemma smiled his way.

"You really think so?" Louis asked somehow afraid of the answer.

"I do, you bring him out of his shell and he sounds so happy with you. He had never smiled the way my mum told me he was smiling ever since he was eighteen." Gemma gave him a sad smile.

Louis looked at Harry seeing him getting tackled down by three hyper and excited little kids as he laughed his head off. He wanted to look away when Harry caught him looking at him and out of nowhere smiled so bright enough to rival the stars and the moon but was gone when he once again paid attention to the kids.

They spent the rest of the afternoon together while all Louis could think about was how wrong everything was but he had agreed to help Harry. That night they both went to bed after an awkward goodnight and woke up once again tangled up in each others embrace even though Louis was quick to push him away. They never made a comment about it and quickly figured out it was for the better, they weren't even together or in love in the first place. Just two people working together for something good.

Thoughts? :)